Outcome
Although the emancipation reform was commemorated by the construction of the enormous Alexander Nevsky Cathedral in Moscow and history books give Alexander II the name of "The Tsar Liberator", its results were far from ideal. Household serfs were the worst affected as they gained only their freedom and no land.
The serfs from private estates were given less land than they needed to survive which led to civil unrest. The redemption tax was so high that the serfs had to sell all the grain they produced to pay the tax, which left nothing for them to survive on. Landowners also suffered because many of them were deeply in debt and the forced selling of their land left them also struggling to keep their lavish lifestyle.
The uneven application of the legislation did leave many peasants in Congress Poland and northern Russia both free and landless (batraks), with only their working force to sell, while in other areas peasants became the majority land owners in their province(s).
The 1861 Emancipation Manifesto affected only the privately owned serfs. The state-owned serfs were emancipated in 1866 and were given better and larger plots of land.
Read more about this topic: Emancipation Reform Of 1861
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